To Catch a Predator Wiki

"Get that camera outta my face please!"

-Peter being gracefully defiant

Peter Sciacca (pronounced "Ska-ka") was a suspected predator involved in the Fortson, Georgia edition of To Catch a Predator. He is best known for being the morbidly obese predator caught in the sting.

Biography[]

Peter was 38 years old and unemployed at the time he began chatting with "Brian", a boy he believed to be fourteen years old. Like many suspected predators, Peter tries at first to seem like both a mentor and protector to the boy, who pretends to be living in a broken home, asking him if he is comfortable in his sexuality and to be careful when he is in chatrooms. It doesn't take long, however, for Peter to turn it up a notch and start to ask him about the things he likes to do sexually. The decoy expresses frustration about not being able to come out in his conservative neighborhood, fearing physical assault.

Peter replies to this by asking if he wants a secret lover. Over the next week, they chat on and off to make a date for when Peter can come over and have oral sex with the decoy.[1] They also talk over the phone where they talk about getting away from Georgia together. As the decoy expresses boredom in the conversation and tries to get off the phone, Sciacca tries coaxing the decoy to remain on the phone to no avail. [2]

Sting and arrested[]

Peter would drive two hours in his Hummer H3 SUV from the Atlanta suburb of Norcross to the sting house. It is drizzling outside when he pulls up. He automatically figures out something is wrong when Del Harvey, as the decoy, comes out with her face covered up trying to wave him in. Her voice is several octaves lower than the decoy Peter spoke with on the phone, who sounded like he was still growing into his voice. She also put a southern twang into her voice, which the phone decoy did not have. Suspicious, Peter asks Del to take her hat off to get a better look and heads back to his car when she refuses. He is quickly arrested by officers from the Harris County Sheriff's Office, never getting a chance to be confronted by Chris Hansen. As he is being carted away, the Dateline camera crew zoom in on his face, to which Peter politely asks for them to get the camera out of his face.

Sentence and death[]

On February 19, 2007, Peter was convicted and found guilty on criminal attempt to commit child molestation and criminal attempt to commit sodomy.[3] He was sentenced to ten years in prison with a minimum of five years to serve,[1] fifteen years of probation,[4] and lifetime registration as a sex offender.[1] He was paroled and released from prison on May 24, 2011.[4] Peter moved to Florida where he is still registered as a sex offender.[5] He later moved back to Georgia.[5]

Due to Peter's passing on October 12, 2021, a petition to terminate his probation was submitted to the Harris County, Georgia court on July 13, 2022. On August 5, 2022, it's was authorized.[3] Peter's cause of death is unknown.

Trivia[]

  • "Don Cheech" was the nickname of infamous New York crime boss Frank Scalice.
  • Chris Hansen mispronounces Peter's last name as "See-kah" in his post-production voiceover.
  • ”Don Cheech” is also the name of a restaurant in Staten Island New York.

References[]